24 Stranded On Joker's Jinx at SFA

[kblanken]

Ditto. (Excepting the 16th through 18th syllables.)

(edit- reference two posts above)

[jcgoble3]

there's no point on Poltergeist or either Flight of Fear that seems to crawl nearly as slowly as Joker's Jinx.

Not even the full stop on the MCBR?

[TombRaiderFTW]

^ Touche, sir. (There's always at least one wise guy around here...)

[kblanken]

(I remember reading that FoF had a backstage tour and they talked about LIM thingys...; or if someone is a mechanical LIM-expert they could answer)

Supposing some of the LIM launchers are faulty, does the ride not launch? (As an alternative to launching, but at a slower velocity.)

As much grief as this site gives Prince George's banners; it gives the impression that the park would let the ride run at fewer than full LIMness if they could.

[bkroz]

It just seemed slower.

Everything seems slower at Six Flags America.

Take Superman: Ride of Steel. Please!

Just wondering... if I was theoretically battling myself over a trip to Darien Lake (which is much closer to me than previously thought), should I lower expectations for Ride of Steel?

GYK, who initially thought it was a mirror-imaged clone of Six Flags New England's Superman - Ride of Steel / Bizarro and was ecstatic to "basically" ride one of the best coasters in the world. Only yesterday did he realize it's a mirror-image clone of Six Flags America's Superman - Ride of Steel, which was a bit of a let down if only because it's not the clone of a "world's best" coaster... And then to hear this... Uh oh.

EDIT: Truth be told I didn't know Six Flags America and Six Flags New England were different. I need to brush up on my Six Flags. Especially if before the end of the decade... Well, never mind. That's cross-threading.

[Italian Job 2005]

people died from the Darien Lake Ride of Steel...

[The Interpreter]

It would be a sad contest as to which of the two has degraded more since opening. During their first year, each was phenomenal.

My advice?

Get thee to Massachusetts if at ALL possible.

[bkroz]

Yikes. Not what I like to hear. Is Predator a stand-out? Otherwise, not much original at the park.

Except their Zamperla... Sorry Terp, but I'm enamored.

[The Interpreter]

people died from the Darien Lake Ride of Steel...

People? (Your post originally said at least two).

A person died.

Not two.

[The Interpreter]

Yikes. Not what I like to hear. Is Predator a stand-out? Otherwise, not much original at the park.

Except their Zamperla... Sorry Terp, but I'm enamored.

Predator IS a stand out, but not in a good way.

[bkroz]

Gah! So a trip to Darien Lake would be mostly for a HUSS Top Spin, a MotoCoaster, and a Nik Wallenda circus-style show. Still not terrible. And hey, for all we know it could be struck by a comet tomorrow, right?

GYK, who made very, very special arrangements to spend this Thursday at Waldameer and Conneaut Lake Park. You just never know!

[kblanken]

Personally, I'd recommend visiting downtown Buffalo and going inside their City Hall observation deck.[cough]More thrilling than Darien Lake.[/cough]

[The Interpreter]

Rochester.

Seabreeze.

Greatly overlooked. A treasure.

[TTD-120-420]

Agreed, I would think that pulling it through would have been safer and quicker. Unless they feel/know something is wrong with a train? Could possibly worn down/out wheels cause a coaster to slow down enough to valley/stall?

If this is the case, why are they running that train in the first place? Do they not inspect the wheels every morning like most parks?

[Oldiesmann]

2 1/2 years later, riders stuck on Joker's Jinx again... http://www.fox5dc.com/news/local-news/248441128-story

[McSalsa]

Oh dang. At least the riders seem to be safe (from the stream I am watching), hopefully they are rescued soon. Doesn't seem any major injuries will come from this though, which is always a good sign.

[silver2005]

I think JJ might be the only Premier spaghetti bowl model to have this occur so often (others including the FoF twins, SFFT's Poltergeist, and Crazy Cobra at Discoveryland in China). 

[Oldiesmann]

Report: Latest incident due to broken wheel: http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2017/05/30/jokers-jinx-incident-report/

[Italian Job 2005]

I'm confused on how a broken wheel causes a ride sensor to "trigger a stop" in a location that doesn't have any breaks. It's almost like six flags was suggesting that a stall is a normal ride stop in a block.


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[teenageninja]

Could it have triggered during the launch causing the ride to not have enough momentum to make it to the brake run?  

 

[Kenban]

Six Flags issued a press release which seems designed to be confusing.  The TV station read the press release and made incorrect assumptions.  You are reading the article and assuming it is actually correct.

 

The train stopped due to the broken wheel.  The ride stopped because the train never reached the end of the block.  No safety system directly monitors the wheel.

[TheRickster]

36 minutes ago, Kenban said:

Six Flags issued a press release which seems designed to be confusing.  The TV station read the press release and made incorrect assumptions.  You are reading the article and assuming it is actually correct.

 

The train stopped due to the broken wheel.  The ride stopped because the train never reached the end of the block.  No safety system directly monitors the wheel.

As our resident ADE President above said, a speed sensor could have caused the launch system to disable prematurely as well. But none of your points are technically incorrect.

[Maddog]

Well describing to the general public that their favorite ride is "technically a runaway train on a restricted path, subject to the forces of gravity and its own momentum, with only the ability to have externally applied braking forces at predefined locations in its path" probably isn't the best PR speak. 

[Kenban]

If I remember correctly on these old Premier LIM launches the magnets fire in a preprogrammed pattern.  Once they start only an e-stop will prevent the sequence from finishing.

I really doubt the ride terminated the launch sequence early.  It had enough momentum to make it through the highest point in the course without wind or another source of friction like this wheel dragging the train would have made it.

[KIBeast]

How did a wheel in obviously poor condition get past morning maintenance? 

[IndyGuy4KI]

1 hour ago, KIBeast said:

How did a wheel in obviously poor condition get past morning maintenance? 

Maybe it looked fine visually?

[FoF96"]

I was just thinking, what if this same scenario happened on one of the Flight of Fear clones, how would an evacuation be done with the building and all being in the way of a crane?

[Maddog]

Actually...a lot easier.  FOF is not that high (vertically), and the entire inside of the ride has a nice firm concrete base where you can drive various articulating boom trucks.  

See: http://www.genielift.com/en/products/boom-lifts/articulating-booms-electric/index.htm

These things can fit in smaller areas nicely.  I wouldn't be surprised if KI maintenance department didn't have various styles already in their arsenal. 

[King Ding Dong]

There are also those big air pillows police use for jumpers or people in fires you see in movies like Leathal Weapon.   

Actually those would make for a great up charge attraction.   

[JCoaster25]

14 hours ago, Maddog said:

Actually...a lot easier.  FOF is not that high (vertically), and the entire inside of the ride has a nice firm concrete base where you can drive various articulating boom trucks.  

See: http://www.genielift.com/en/products/boom-lifts/articulating-booms-electric/index.htm

These things can fit in smaller areas nicely.  I wouldn't be surprised if KI maintenance department didn't have various styles already in their arsenal. 

Actually, it's even more easy than that. I don't know if this is true with the Flight of Fear at KD, but I've noticed that KI's has a giant evac platform at the very spot in the layout where Joker's Jinx stalled. The platform is connected to the midcourse catwalk via a small set of stairs, so if Flight of Fear stalled in that spot, all staff would half to do is flip the lights on, walk up to the evac platform, and manually release each restraint so guests could walk to the midcourse catwalk stairway and head down to the floor. Easy peasy.